


Stuck On You

by senkolia



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst, Character Death, Depressing, How Do I Tag, Hurt No Comfort, Karl Jacobs Needs a Hug, Karl Jacobs-centric, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, RPF, Sapnap Is An Idiot, Sapnap Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), Tags Contain Spoilers, This fic sucks, Time Travel, Tragic Romance, Unrequited Love, angst is hard to write, i use sapnaps real name instead, idk how to write, no happy ending we die like george in manhunt, writing is harder than i thought, you'll find out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:41:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29343009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/senkolia/pseuds/senkolia
Summary: Nick has a heart-condition, and Karl is with him through every step of the way.Karl eventually becomes stuck and needs to let go.
Relationships: Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	1. Before It All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if any of the people in this work say they are uncomfortable with fanfiction written about them, i will immediately take it down! 
> 
> welcome to my fic :] i hope you enjoy it. this is my second work i've ever written, so please let me know what i can do to make it better and improve! my first work was uploaded a few days ago + it's dnf so go check that out too :D
> 
> this ff will be a more serious and depressing one, so if you don't handle that well i suggest not reading it. it will have romance in it, though i personally think their bond is more important in this fic rather than their romance.

Karl's hand twitches as he gains consciousness. He sits up a bit and looks around. There's no one to be seen and he recognizes nothing. Yet, there's still a hint of familiarity. And comfort.

As he's still waking up, he finds the place he's in is entirely white... no other color to be seen. 

He stands up and sees a small table in front of him. It has a single flower on it. It's purple. The only thing he's seen in this place that isn't white. He starts walking towards it, entranced. 

"Where am I?" He mumbles to himself, thinking out loud. It echoes a bit since the room he's in is gigantic. Of course, he doesn't get a reply. He touches the flower and bends down a bit to smell it. 

"That's odd." The flower has no scent. He decides to leave the flower and walk towards the big staircase that's a little ways away. He walks towards the stairs, then up them. He finds a book laying on the ground and goes to pick it up. As soon as he goes to open it, he hears a voice.

"Hey. Did you miss me?" the voice calls out.

Before Karl gets the chance to turn around, everything goes black. 

Karl wakes up to a text message. He sits up, and and hears a soft _drip _. He looks down to his blanket, and sees a wet spot. He puts a hand up to his eye and feels tears dripping down his face.__

__He was crying._ _

__He doesn't know why and yet they kept flowing. Was something wrong with him? He doesn't think so. Maybe it was the weird dream he had. He settles on that being the cause._ _

__Karl wipes his tears and eventually stops crying. He gets out of his bed and heads to the bathroom to get ready for the day. After he's dressed, he checks his phone to see who tried to wake him up so early. It was a missed call from Nick, so Karl calls him back. He picks up almost immediately._ _

__“Hey, did you need something?” Karl starts off, groggily._ _

__“Nah, I was just getting a check up later and was wondering if you wanted to come over and hang out before then.”_ _

__“Yeah, sure. You know I’d never miss an opportunity to see you. Also, you woke me up so I might as well stay awake. I’m gonna punch you for that though.” Karl jokes._ _

__“Oops. My bad. Just kidding, I’m not actually sorry.” Nick fake laughs._ _

__“Are you ever? Anyways, I’ll be on my way in five. See you.” Karl chuckles and hangs up._ _

__Karl gets a backpack with clothes in them and puts on his shoes. He should be doing his homework right now since it's due tomorrow, but college can wait. His best friend always comes first._ _

__It's a bit chilly outside so he puts on a hoodie. He looks at his umbrella and wonders when the next time it'll rain. It hasn't for a while now. He doesn't know why, but he feels a bit uneasy about the thought of rain. He shrugs off the feeling and heads out the door._ _

__The walk to Nick's house isn't too long as they live in the same neighborhood. He arrives fairly quickly and knocks on his door._ _

__"Hey Karl. Glad to see you. He's in his room right now." Nick's parents greet him as he walks in. Their house is basically his second home. They even gave him a key to the house. Though, he only uses it for emergencies or if it's late at night and doesn't want to wake Nick's parents up._ _

__He gives them a quick hello and heads upstairs to Nick room. He slightly taps on the door and walks in, knowing Nick was expecting him._ _

__"Yo. What's up?" Nick greets him with a smile._ _

__"Visiting a loser, currently. What's up with you?" Karl smiles back._ _

__"Actually, funny you say that because I'm hanging out with a bigger loser." Nick replies while Karl walks over and ruffles the other's hair._ _

__"Hey! I just brushed it asshole. Stop." Nick says as he does the same to Karl._ _

__"You'll live. Hand me a brush and I'll brush it for you. Y'know, since you're a big baby," he says as he makes fake crying noises, mocking Sapnap. Sapnap ignores him and hands Karl a brush._ _

__"Actually you should. I'm too lazy to." Karl takes the brush and Nick sits down on his bed. Karl starts brushing his hair gently, trying not to be too rough and hurt him. A comfortable silence falls upon them as they wait for Karl to finish. Nick turns around once Karl stops brushing his hair. Their eyes meet as they still refuse to say a word._ _

__Nick is looking up at Karl, since he's sitting down while Karl is standing beside him._ _

__"I know what you're thinking. And I'll be okay. It's just a check up you dork." Nick reassures, "Besides, the doctors have been saying that I've been getting better."_ _

__Karl looks at him with a sad smile. He still feels uneasy, but Nick has still managed to reassure him a bit. He feels bad for making Sapnap have to comfort him, when he's the one dealing with everything and not Karl. He feels selfish, but he still gladly accepts the comfort._ _

__"How do you always read my mind? Stop invading my privacy. It's freaky." they both chuckle at his remark._ _

__"We've been best friends for forever nimrod... of course I'm going to know what you're thinking most of the time. Keyword most. Sometimes you can be an idiot and i'll have no clue what you're thinking." Nick adds._ _

__"It is pretty easy to guess what you're thinking. So I understand that, but stop being so accurate. You scare me." Karl hits him with a pillow._ _

__"Oh yeah? What am I thinking about right now then.. hmm? Bet you don't know." Nick challenges Karl as he sticks his tongue out at him._ _

__Karl slowly gets closer, keeping eye contact with him until he's just a few inches away from Nick's face._ _

__"Me."_ _

__Nick wasn't expecting that response, but before he can say anything Karl pushes Nick's forehead with his palm and he falls back onto the bed. While he's laying down, Nick takes Karl's arms and pulls him onto the bed with him. They both start laughing and eventually Nick's cat, Mogwai, joins them on the bed. They're all cuddled together, so Karl takes the TV remote and puts on a movie for background noise, and to just relax to._ _

__They both end up falling asleep with Mogwai laying in between them. Nick's parents end up waking them up so he can go to his scheduled check-up. They get up and stretch a bit before heading to the doctor's. The ride was a little more than a half hour, since there aren't too many cardiologists around where they live. The ride was fairly silent but not an uncomfortable silence. More like a worried one. Everyone was hoping the best for Nick and hoping his heart is still working fine. Nothing has really been wrong lately, but that's what was somewhat worrying everyone. It seems like it's been too fine recently._ _

__They arrive, and Nick and his parents start heading toward's their specific cardiologist's room. Nick and Karl both wave and smile at each other as Karl stays in the waiting room and takes a seat in one of the many chairs. Only family can be with the patient as they're getting a check up, so Karl normally waits in the waiting room. Every now and then he joins Nick when the doctor allows him to though, since she knows Karl comes to every one of Nick's check ups and visits._ _

__Karl always makes sure to go to every visit with Nick, and always be there for him when he's done with them._ _

__So Karl waits for him until he comes back. Like he always does._ _


	2. Visits

It was so sudden, almost like a flash.

Not sure where he was once again, Karl turns around. He tries to find the person who spoke out to him, but no one was there.

He realizes he’s still holding the book and it’s turned on the first page. It’s in a language that he can’t read, yet recognizes. It doesn’t look like any normal language. It seems special. Maybe it wasn’t a language, and instead he just couldn’t read it. He wonders why. He also wonders who left it there. Was it someone he knew? Or was it even a person at all? His mind has come up with a million questions, and he doesn’t think he’s going to get any answers.

He starts walking towards the entrance that splits into two new hallways. He chooses the right one which leads him to another split-off, this time three different paths to choose from. He looks around a bit and chooses the left hallway. He feels like he’s being guided by something. Whatever that something is though, he has no idea.

The hallway he ended up going down has many windows as he stops and stares through them all. Each window shows more of the vast white building he’s in, seeming like a castle from a fairy tale. It’s truly the most beautiful place he’s seen. 

Nothing amounts to how pretty this place is. He believes that there aren’t any words that could describe the beauty of the building, much less the feeling from it. Comfort, familiarity, and ease all seem to be understatements. Though, there is also a sense of sorrow. Being wherever he was is such a bittersweet thing. He doesn’t think any language would have the words to explain the feel to this place. 

As he’s staring out the last window of the hallway before the entrance to the next room, he feels like everything is fading. Fading to black very slowly. He looks inside of the room the hallway was leading him into, and catches a glimpse of a person sitting on a swing set. Karl feels like he knows the person sitting on the swing set, but he can’t quite put his finger on it. It’s like he was so close yet so far to knowing who it was. The man gives him a sad look. Why? Why can’t Karl remember? He knows this person, he’s sure of it. It’s not that he can’t remember. His brain just isn’t letting him. He seems so important.

_ Remember. Remember. Remember. _

Karl tries to reach out his arm ready to shout something, anything, but he couldn’t. His body wasn’t working.. it wasn’t listening to him. Almost like he wasn’t allowed to talk to the man just barely twenty feet away from him. 

“ **Not yet.** ” the man says with a sad smile. His expression just confused Karl even more.

Karl wanted to ask so many questions. If not yet, then when? What was he referring to? Who was he? What were they both doing here? His mind was going a million miles a second. 

Then everything went black, yet again. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


Karl wakes to Nick tapping him on the shoulder. 

Karl looks around, and he’s in the doctor’s office again.

“Sorry. Must have dozed off.” Karl says with confusion. He wasn’t even tired, nor did he remember falling asleep. Why was he sleeping so much lately? He never remembers when he falls asleep, or the moments before he does.

Nick snaps him out of his thoughts. 

“Did you have a bad dream? You’re crying.” Nick asks, concerned. He puts a hand on Karl’s shoulder looking a little more serious than normal. 

  
“I am? I don’t know. I don’t think I did. Maybe.” He tries to remember the dream, but his mind goes blank. He hasn’t been able to remember much lately…

“Anyways, how did it go?” Karl asks with a worried and curious expression.

“Oh, yeah! My checkup went well! We’re in the clear.” Nick smiles with a wide grin and gives Karl a thumbs up. Karl gives him a relieved sigh with a smile in return.

“We’re leaving once my parents are done talking with the doctor. I guess they’re filling out paperwork or something. It’ll probably be a few minutes but I wanted you fully awake before we left.” Nick puts a hand over his stomach, “I’m pretty hungry though.. you wanna come with me to the vending machines?” Karl nods in agreement. He was hungry and wanted an energy drink. As much as he felt comfortable in his dreams, he also felt very melancholy. He wanted to avoid his dreams for now.

He gets up and they head to the vending machines, getting a handful of snacks. They both got a few energy drinks so they could stay up and do whatever they planned on doing later. 

As soon as they got back from the vending machines, Nick’s parents were done speaking to his doctor. Karl wondered what they talked about. It wasn’t his place to ask though. He wanted to respect everyone’s privacy and he knew it was an odd thing to ask. They left within a few minutes, waving the doctor bye and thanking her. 

When they got home, Nick and Karl both crashed in his room upstairs. It was a long visit and they were both tired at that point. They drank a few more energy drinks but it only helped Nick. For some reason, Karl can’t escape his constant feeling of exhaustion lately. Like his body always wants rest and to be asleep. 

Karl sat up, “What are your dreams normally about? Do you ever remember them?” Nick looked at him. Normally he’d reply with a goofy answer or joke around, but he realized Karl’s more serious tone. 

“Most of mine are about the future. Or just about me living my life without having to worry about whether I’ll die the next day or not.” Nick lightly chuckles and looks down. He normally doesn’t like serious conversations. Especially when they find a way to relate to his current situation. He hates being reminded about how vulnerable and weak he is. And how he couldn’t just have a normal heart, like everyone else. Karl sees Nick’s expression turn solem. He gets closer and puts a hand on Nick’s cheek. After sitting like that for a few minutes just looking into each other’s eyes, Nick puts his head in Karl’s lap. Karl starts playing with his hair and smoothing it out. 

“It’s okay, I know you’ll live tomorrow. And every tomorrow after that. You know why?” 

Nick turns his head to look at Karl.

“Because you have to live for me,” Karl pushes Nick’s hair out of his eyes, “And if you died, I’d never forgive you.” Karl gives him a loving smile. Nick closes his eyes, smiling back.

“I know, I know. You nimrod.” Nick sighs in defeat. 

After that conversation, they just sit in comfortable silence. Just enjoying each other’s presence. And like that, Nick fell asleep.. leaving Karl to sit with his thoughts. He doesn’t want to go back to his dreams. Not when he feels this content. 

  
  
  
  


_ Karl… _

He ignores the voice. 

_Karl_.

Why does it sound different than the other person's voice?

_ Karl. Please. _

It sounds familiar as well. 

_Come back to me._

He realizes it’s a woman's voice. 

_I’m waiting for you._

And at this, even against all of his protests, Karl slowly slips into a slumber. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter again rip  
> the first few chapters are the calm before the storm. it should start picking up soon :)
> 
> also...  
> i hate how this is turning out sm  
> once i finish writing this story i'll probably rewrite the entire thing to make it longer and much better


	3. Inbetween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> even shorter chapter rip.
> 
> im sure the 3 people who will read this chapter don't care

Karl flutters his eyes open as he gains consciousness of his surroundings. He looks around, and finds himself in the same white castle he's been in for a while. He's still at the end of the hallway, just one step away from the next room.

He reaches out and there isn't an invisible wall stopping him from proceeding into the next room this time. He takes the one step he needs to enter the next room. As he enters, he sees a giant tree with a pair of swings in front of it. The tree is also entirely white, a seeming fit for the giant white castle he's in. In between the two swings is another book. 

He doesn't expect to find anything in the book, yet still picks it up out of curiosity. He opens it and flips through all the pages. The only pages with writing on them are the first few, even though it's a very thick book.

"This is the Inbetween," He starts reading out loud, just barely a whisper.

"For now, you can only access this place when you are asleep. Worry not, this is a place for comfort, and to feel at ease. You are safe here. There is much to the Inbetween, and you will find yourself asking more questions than receiving answers. Though, this does not mean you will not get any." Karl looks up to the tree, "What secrets are you hiding?" asking no one in particular. He continues.

"The more you visit and explore, the more answers you will get. Unfortunately, the Inbetween is constantly changing as it is a living being as you and me are. This means there will be some things you may not get answers or insight to. Regardless, I wish you the best of luck in regards to your searching." Karl finishes, as the writing stops. He stares at the tree for a minute with a head full of a million thoughts. He places the book down where he found it, and sits on one of the swings. There are many, many questions racing through his mind.. but the loudest one is:

_Why am I here?_

It's like he was thrown in the middle of a tornado, spinning round and round. His head hurts a bit, and he slightly winces at the pain. Then it starts pounding. Harder and harder. The more he thinks about it, the worse the pain gets. 

_Why? Why? Why why why?_

He falls to the floor, holding his head.

_What am I missing? What am I..._

_not remembering?_

Tears start pouring out. The pain is nearly unbearable.

_What? Remembering? Did I forget something? What is it? I need to remember._

He needs to remember. 

_Remember. Remember Remember._

The pain is too much. He's still on the floor and he's sobbing. He starts screaming. Too much, it's too much. It needs to stop.

_I want it to stop. Stop. Please stop. Just stop!_

He feels a hand on his back. The pain immediately stops.

"Karl." 

He doesn't want to look up. He's scared the pain will come back.

That it'll hurt again. He can't handle it if it comes back.

"Karl. Look at me." 

_I don't want to. I just... can't. Leave me alone._

"Karl..."

Suddenly the person hugs him. And he feels warm. Safe. Reassured.

He looks up. 

And he was right about the pain. It just isn't the physical kind this time.

"...Mom?" is all he can get out. He puts a hand over his mouth in disbelief. 

"Son." She lovingly smiles at him, "I've missed you." 

_Is this real? Is she... real? Is she here?_

His lips start to quiver.

"We have a lot of catching up to do, Karl."

He's missed her voice.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp my creativity and motivation said "see ya" and now i don't know how to write or where to take the rest of this fic
> 
> i'll figure it out as i go i suppose
> 
> will i ever pick up the pace or make this story actually interesting? no. 
> 
> cries


End file.
